Bengals Bring Roster To 53
The Bengals are now in roster compliance, having brought their roster to 53. The following players have been cut:
- WR Jake Kumerow (Twitter link via Jim Owczarski of the Cincinnati Enquirer)
- CB Darius Hillary (link via Owczarski)
- DE Ryan Brown (link via Owczarski)
- G Alex Cooper (link via Katherine Terrell of ESPN.com)
- FB Andrew Bonnet
- RB Tra Carson
- DT David Dean
- T Aaron Epps
- RB Bronson Hill
- G Trey Hopkins
- TE Matt Lengel
- CB Tony McRae
- G Alex Redmond
- WR Alonzo Russell
- WR Rashaun Simonise
- G Trip Thurman
- T John Weidenaar
- QB Keith Wenning
- CB Chykie Brown
Additionally, DT Marcus Hardison was placed on injured reserve and WR Mario Alford was waived with an injury settlement, tweets Owcazrski.
Kumerow had been fighting for a reserve wide receiver spot on a Cincinnati club that lost several of its pass-catchers over the offseason. And though he offers special teams value, Kumerow wasn’t able to beat out the likes of Cody Core and Alex Erickson to join a depth chart that includes A.J. Green, Tyler Boyd, and Brandon LaFell.
On Friday, the Bengals released safety Jimmy Wilson.
Bengals Release Jimmy Wilson
The Bengals released safety Jimmy Wilson, as Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk tweets. The team has since confirmed the move via press release. 
Wilson, 30, appeared in 13 games with San Diego last season before the team released him in December. This offseason, he hooked on with Kansas City and Cincinnati, but both stints were short lived. Since entering the league as a seventh-rounder in 2011, Wilson has played in 73 regular-season games, logged 28 starts, and amassed five interceptions.
With Wilson out of the picture, seventh-round pick Clayton Fedejelem appears poised to take the final safety spot on the Bengals’ roster. The team still has 20+ cuts to make by tomorrow afternoon.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Bengals Asking For Day 2 Pick For A.J. McCarron?
- Multiple quarterbacks being lost for either the season or a significant part of it has inflated the value of backups on the trade market. La Canfora notes the Buccaneers, Bengals and Browns are not likely to part with respective No. 2 signal-callers Mike Glennon, A.J. McCarron and Josh McCown for anything less than a Day 2 draft pick, with the possibility a team holds out for a first-round selection. Each team would prefer to keep their backups, La Canfora writes.
WR Mario Alford Reverts To Bengals' IR
- Wide receiver Mario Alford cleared waivers and will revert to the Bengals‘ IR, Katherine Terrell of ESPN.com tweets.
Lions Claim Jayson DiManche From Bengals
The Lions were in need of help at linebacker and they added some depth on Tuesday afternoon. Detroit has claimed Jayson DiManche off waivers from the Bengals, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter).
DiManche, 26 in September, spent the 2013 and 2014 seasons with the Bengals before spending time on the taxi squads of the Browns and Chiefs. In January, the Bengals inked DiManche to their practice squad and subsequently signed him to a futures deal. This week, he was a roster casualty as they trimmed down towards 75.
DiManche should help Detroit out while linebacker Jon Bostic heals up from surgery. Bostic was given a 6-12 week time table earlier this month, which means he won’t be back until October at the earliest.
The Lions waived fellow linebacker Dominique Tovell to get back down to the 75-man limit.
Bengals Cut Brandon Tate, Roster At 75
The Bengals have released wide receiver Brandon Tate, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link), and they’ve also waived fellow WR Mario Alford with an injury designation, per Jim Owczarski of the Cincinnati Enquirer (Twitter link). Additionally, Cincinnati has placed rookie defensive tackle Andrew Billings on injured reserve and fellow DT Brandon Thompson on PUP. The club’s roster is now at 75.
[RELATED: Cedric Peerman Fractures Arm]
Tate, 28, has been on Cincinnati’s roster since the 2011 season, but most of his contributions have come on special teams rather than on offense. He’s returned more than 350 kicks and punts during his time with the Bengals, averaging 9.6 yards per return on kickoffs and 24.6 yards on punts. Tate is highly-respected by the Cincinnati coaching staff and front office, and Rapoport notes that the club released him now so that he might be able to latch on with another club.
Alford, meanwhile, was thought to be contending for both returner jobs, but injuries have kept him off the field. The former sixth-round pick will revert to the Bengals’ injured reserve list if he clears waivers.
The Bengals also released kicker Jon Brown from the injured reserve list, presumably with an injury settlement.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Bengals Cut 11 Players, Down To 79
The Bengals have only four moves left to make in advance of tomorrow’s 75-man deadline. On Monday, the club announced that eleven players have been cut loose:
- FB Jeff Luc
- DL Jack Gangwish
- CB Corey Tindal
- S Floyd Raven
- LB Darien Harris
- QB Joe Licata
- WR Antwane Grant
- K Zach Hocker
- TE John Peters
- LB Jayson DiManche
The Bengals should be able to whittle down their roster a bit more by placing players like Cedric Peerman (fractured forearm) and fourth-round draft pick Andrew Billings (surgically-repaired meniscus) on IR. Defensive tackle Brandon Thompson (ACL) is also likely to hit the PUP list.
Bengals’ Cedric Peerman Fractures Arm
The Bengals have confirmed that running back Cedric Peerman suffered a fractured left arm during tonight’s preseason game against the Jaguars, according to Paul Dehner Jr. of the Cincinnati Enquirer (Twitter link).
[RELATED: Latest On Injured TE Tyler Eifert]
While Cincinnati didn’t announce a recovery timetable for Peerman, it’s likely that such an injury will be a season-ender. Peerman will probably go on injured reserve, and while the NFL’s new IR rules would allow the Bengals to bring Peerman back in the middle of the season without designating him to return immediately, the club has other candidates for that spot. As Katherine Terrell of ESPN.com tweets, Cincinnati is likely saving its IR/return slot for first-round corner William Jackson III, who suffered a torn pectoral during training camp.
Peerman, 29, is a running back in-name-only, as he didn’t rush the ball a single time in 2015. In six NFL seasons, in fact, Peerman has seen only 64 carries, with the majority of those coming in two seasons. But Peerman is still an extremely valuable player, as he’s probably the most important member of Darrin Simmons‘ special teams unit in Cincinnati. Perrman played on nearly two-thirds of the Bengals’ ST snaps last year, and was named to the Pro Bowl for his efforts.
Peerman is entering the final year of his current contract with the Bengals, and will count $1.21MM on the salary cap this season.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Update On Bengals’ Tyler Eifert
Bengals tight end Tyler Eifert has just started jogging and is targeting Weeks 4-6 for his return from ankle surgery, a source tells Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). Eifert is keeping optimistic and hoping for a Week 4 return. It’s even conceivable that he could be healthy enough to play in Week 3, but Cincinnati is playing it safe with their star tight end (link). 
[RELATED: Bengals’ Andrew Billings Out For Season]
Eifert suffered the ankle injury at the Pro Bowl and the early word is that it was a minor tweak. As it turns out, the injury was worse than initially feared.
Eifert, 26 next month, had a breakout season in 2015, earning his first Pro Bowl nod since entering the league as the 21st overall pick in 2013. After spending the majority of the 2014 season on injured reserve, the Notre Dame alum hauled in 52 passes for 615 yards and 13 touchdowns in just 13 regular season contests last year.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Bengals’ Andrew Billings Out For Season
TUESDAY, 7:09pm: Billings will in fact miss the entire 2016 season, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL.com.
MONDAY, 12:14pm: Bengals rookie defensive tackle Andrew Billings underwent knee surgery today for a torn meniscus and is out indefinitely, a source tells Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter). The injury could rule Billings out for the entire 2016 season. 
As shown on Roster Resource, the Bengals were planning on using Billings as their primary backup at nose tackle behind Domata Peko. Former Raider Pat Sims now presumably moves up a spot on the depth chart and the team could also look out-of-house for defensive line help as defensive tackle Brandon Thompson recovers from his knee injury.
In July, scouting expert Dave-Te Thomas told PFR that Billings was poised to make a big impact for Cincinnati this season:
Lightning may have struck the Bengals twice at the nose guard position. Back in 2010, a stout interior defender was not regarded as highly by general managers as their scouts. As luck would have it, the Bengals took a chance in the fourth round that year and found Geno Atkins. Now, six years later, they might have found the player who could replace Peko at nose tackle, perhaps as early as next year. If Billings proves to be starter material in training camp, the front office might be comfortable with letting Peko go elsewhere after this season.
The Bengals haven’t had the best of luck with their 2016 rookie class. Earlier this month, first-round cornerback William Jackson III suffered a torn pectoral muscle that could cost him a big chunk of the season.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.